"Oh, I forgot you couldn't read that." He tilted his head back toward the instrument.
"A wire just went through--the court-house at Garbin caught fire in the basement--something about the furnace, they think--and she's going up in smoke.

Hydrants are froze up so they can't get water on it.

That fixes your looking up the record, Ford." Ford stared hard at him.

"Well, I might hunt up the preacher and ask him," he said, his tone dropping again to dull discouragement.
The agent chuckled.

"From all I hear," he observed rashly, "you've made that same preacher mighty hard to catch!" Ford drummed upon the shelf and scowled at the smoke-blackened window, beyond which the snow was sweeping aslant.